Turkiye’s total machinery exports, including free zones, decreased by 2.6% in January compared to the same period last year, falling to $2.1 billion.
According to the statement made by the Machinery Exporters Association (MAIB), machinery exports, which closed the last quarter of last year with a horizontal course and a total of $7 billion of exports, started 2024 with a decrease of 7 thousand tons in quantity and $50 million in value.
While a decrease was observed in exports of domestic and industrial refrigeration machines and machine tools on a monthly basis, there was an increase in internal combustion engines, textile and clothing machinery, and turbine, turbo-jet and hydraulic systems.
While exports to the two largest export markets, Germany and the USA, increased in January, there was a nearly 30% decrease in exports to Russia as a result of the intervention of the global banking system.
Kutlu Karavelioglu, President of the Machinery Exporters’ Association, whose views were included in the statement, reminded that they closed 2023, in which machinery production and exports in the world did not increase, with an increase of 22.9% in production and 10.6% in exports.
Referring to the negative developments in the European Union, Turkiye’s main export market, Karavelioglu talked about the reluctance in investments in this region, the postponement of demands and the decrease in the production of the machinery sector.
Karavelioglu noted that European countries have been trying to attract qualified workforce trained in Turkiye in the machinery sector in recent years, and explained that open moves towards engineers and software developers pose a threat to the future of the sector, which is based on SMEs.
Kutlu Karavelioglu said, “Turkiye’s machinery factories have turned into an educational institution that trains and exports designers and technical people first to our defense industry and then to Europe. Intellectual property issue aside, we have to see that these losses will have heavy costs for the survival of the business.”
“Some of the new orders will be tied to sustainability conditions”
MAIB President Karavelioglu pointed out that some of the orders expected to increase towards the summer will be tied to new conditions regarding sustainability, and talked about the importance of businesses’ compliance with the European Green Deal.
Referring to their activities on this subject, Karavelioglu said, “We are developing various methods and tools in order to turn the road map we have drawn in our Sustainability Action Plan Report into concrete practice and to lead the implementation of the designed recipes on a company scale. Our Twin Transformation UR-GE Project was deemed worthy of the best practice example award of our Ministry of Commerce in terms of needs analysis and cluster road map creation.”
“The machinery industry cannot survive on its own merits”
Kutlu Karavelioglu emphasized that high value-added export sectors are considered the apple of the eye of the economy in all developed countries and said:
“We always say that the protective and protective mechanisms of the state play a major role in our machinery sector producing 70% more production and exporting 40% more value compared to 2019 before the pandemic, diversifying technology and products, increasing their added value and competitiveness, and strengthening their agility and durability. We need to reiterate frequently that this situation is valid for all countries that claim to develop their own technologies, starting from advanced countries.”
Karavelioglu stated that if these supports do not exist or continue, the SME sector will not be able to thrive anywhere in the world.
Pointing to the increase in imports, Karavelioglu said, “We think that the open doors in our Investment Incentive Legislation should be closed urgently in order for the measures taken in the import regime to be successful.”
Source: Trthaber / Prepared by Irem Yildiz